James l y a l l



(No Model.)

J.LYALL. WOVEN FABRIC POR WHEEL TIRES. No. 557,409.

Patented Mar. 31, 1896.

AN DREW ILGRAHAMv PnOTO-LmwvwAsmNGl'ON. D Cv UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

JAMES LYA-LL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

WOVEN FABRIC FOR WHEEL-TIRES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 557,409, dated March31, 1896.

Application filed July 12, 1893. Serial No. 480,253. (No model.)

Be it known that I, JAMES LYALL, a citizen .of the United States,residing in the city and State of New York, have invented an lmprovementin Woven Fabrics for Wheel- Tires, of which the following is aspecification.

Fabrics for wheel-tires have heretofore been made in some instances of astrip of woven canvas, and sometimes this has been cut on the bias so asto be adapted to be drawn into a tubular form and the ends joined up inmaking an elastic or pneumatic tire for a bicycle or tricycle, and ininstances where the material has been woven so that the center of thestrip is longer than the edges, so as to be adapted to form a hollowring, difficulty has been experienced in applying to the surface of thewoven fabric the rubber in a plastic condition by the action ofcalender-rolls, 'because the fullness in the middle portion of the striphas produced plaits or puckers in the fabric under the calender-rolls,resulting in the injury of the fabric and the improper application ofthe rubber to the surface thereof.

I weave the fabric for the wheel-tire flat and with the warp and Weftthreads corrugated or crinkled nearly uniformly where the same is to be'folded to form the edges of the hollow wheel-tire and the centralportions of the strip and the portions that lap upon the centralportions of the strip having the warpthreads corrugated or crinkled to agreater extent than the weft-threads, the fabric being adapted to lieiiat during the calendering operation or when the rubber is applied tothe surface thereof. Usually the warps gradually decrease in lengthbetween the longest and shortest portions.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating the manner ofWeaving this improved fabric. Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating themanner in which the strip is to be Woven when the fabric is foldeddouble and adapted to be bent up into the form of the hollow ring. Fig.3 is a diagram illustrating the grouping of weft-threads.

A represents the portion of the fabric which is woven with the warp andweft threads crinkled with uniformity, or nearly so, as in ordinaryWeaving, and B represents the portion of the fabric where theweft-threads are nearly straight and the warps have the principalportion of the corrugations or crinkles.

In Fig. 1 I have represented a portion of a piece of fabric adapted tobe cut into strips after the same has been Woven and calendered or therubber applied to the surface, the lines of the separation of therespective strips being shown at 2, and in order to illustrate that thewarps for the portion A are under greater tension than the warps for theportion B, I have represented some of the respective warps as passingover pulleys With weights attached, the weights for the warps of theportion B being considerably smaller than the weights for the warps ofthe portion A of the fabric, and the intermediate portions may be underintermediate tensions, if desired, so that the crinkling or corrugatin gof the warps will be in proportion to the length of the warps when thewoven strip is bent into the form of a hollow ring.

' The strip is made sufficiently wide for a central portion B withelongated crinkled warps and the side portions B2 B3 with similar warps,so that when the fabric is folded at the lines 4. in theuniformly-crinkled portion A of the strip the two edges of the fabricwill lap upon each other, and the long warps that have been crinkled orcorrugated to a greater extent lie closely adjacent to each other, andthe folded portions e 4. form the edges of the fabric when in the formof the hollow ring, and by the before-mentioned improvement one or bothsurfaces of the fabric can receive the india-rubber, and they willadhere together where the edges lap upon each other, as indicated inFig. 2, and where the surfaces of the fabrics come together, and in thisinstance it is preferable to include in the folds 4 either wires, cords,or other attaching devices, as represented in Fig. 2.

It will be apparent that this improvement is not limited to anyparticular character of Weave, as the fabric may be woven plain or as atwill, or in some parts of the fabric more than one weft-thread may belaid into the shed, so as to group the weft-threads to any desiredextent, as illustrated in Fig. 4, and where eXtra heavy canvas isdesired the same may be woven in any usual manner, the bcfore-describedimprovement being added.

IOO

In plain and twilled weaving it is usual to apply such tension to thewarp-threads that the crinkling or corrugating will be nearly uniform inthe warps and wefts, so that when a square is cut out of a fabric andwarp and weft threads are unraveled they will be the same length, ornearly so, when drawn out straight. As this is not the case in all partsof my fabric as woven, the foregoing description sets forth whichportions of the fabric contain the threads that are corrugated to agreater extent than the crossing threads, so as to be longer when thefabric is in the fiat condition.

I claim as my inVention-- l. A fabric for lining pneumatic bicycletires,woven with longitudinal portions of varying lengths, three differentportions, which are to form the outer circumference of the tire-lining,being longest, and two longitudinal portions, midway between the saidthree longest portions, being shortest, with gradual decrease of lengthbetween the longest and shortest portions, whereby the said fabric, whenfolded longitudinally along its shortest portions, is adapted to make atirelining of double fabric gradually curved throughout its length so asto assume a complete circular form without being forced or stretched,substantially as set forth.

2. The herein-described fabric for wheeltires woven as a strip of canvaswith the warp and weft threads corrugated or crinkled nearly uniformlywhere the same is to be folded to form the edges of the hollowwheel-tire, and the central portions of the strip and the portions thatlap upon the central portion of the strip having the warp-threadscorrugated or crinkled to a greater extent than the weftthreads, thefabric however being adapted t0 lie flat during the calenderingoperation or when the rubber is applied to the surface thereof,substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 6th day of July, 1893.

IJXrAIJT). lVitnesses:

GEO. T. IINCKNEY, A. M. OLIVER.

